Deal With the Devil
by lacorsetiere
Summary: Leoben finds Kara as the occupation of New Caprica begins. BTW: Written solely for fun. Not making any profit.


It's taken Kara nearly two hours after the invasion began to make her way back home. She's been slowed by the need to hide or even double-back at times to avoid both the panicked crowds of New Capricans and the Centurion patrols. She's almost there, less than 30 feet from the tent, when he…_no, it_ frakkin' steps in front of her.

_Leoben. _

The sight of the Cylon standing there, between her and Sam, brings her up short. He smiles, "Kara."

She's frozen. Her brain is screaming, run, hit him, do something, but none of her limbs will obey. Like a rabbit frozen in headlights, she can do nothing but stare wide-eyed as he closes the few feet between him.

Leoben circles her slowly, appraising her, savoring her fear no doubt. He is behind her when he leans forward and whispers "I've been looking for you."

Kara takes a deep gulp of air.

"Don't bother screaming." He cautions.

She's not even thinking about screaming. She has to save her oxygen for the sprint those final yards to the tent where Sam is. Sam and the rifle they keep loaded because, well, you never know. She closes her eyes. Pictures it now, stowed beneath their cot between cleanings. She can almost feel the heft of it in her hands when she lifts it to blow Leoben's frakking head off. Then she actually does feel cool metal against her palm and jerks her eyes open.

Not her own rifle, of course, but a gun nonetheless. The crazy skin-job is actually pressing a weapon into her hand. "Take it, Kara." He murmurs into her ear. "I know you want to kill me."

Kara croaks out, "Want doesn't begin to cover it, you sick motherfrakker."

"Then, take the gun." Leoben replies.

She's not crazy. There's no frakking way he'd give her a loaded weapon. She doesn't even try to take it. Impatience flashes across the Cylon's face and he wraps his fingers around hers, then fires into the ground.

The recoil is still singing up Kara's arm when her palm closes convulsively around the gun. She doesn't even have to tug it away from him. She whips it up and takes aim as Leoben steps back.

"See? So easy to get what you want so badly." He smiles again. "Or is it? I'm told finding antibiotics around here is a real bitch."

She freezes again. "What did you say?"

"That's the only reason you left Sam alone today, isn't it?" Leoben tsks. "You shouldn't have done that, Kara. He's very sick. Too weak to even get up for a glass of water to still his coughing. I obliged, but he slapped it out of my hand. Not a smart move for a man who's already dehydrated." He pauses, smirks. "But then again, Sam was never all that smart to begin with."

She wills herself to fire. Knows how light a touch on the trigger it'll take. Imagines all the hate she feels right now traveling along with that bullet to explode this thing's heart. For all, that she's still paralyzed. Her finger never even quivers.

Leoben's grinning broadly now as he yanks at his hideously patterned shirt to expose his bare chest. He taps his heart. "Right here, Kara."

She ignores his mocking.

He cocks his head. "What are you waiting for? Surely not, Lee Adama sweeping in to the rescue?" He shakes his head. "Seriously, Kara? Your precious Apollo and his hoard of antibiotics jumped away almost ninety minutes ago, Kara. Surely, you didn't think he was going to risk his own hide to save you when he wouldn't even spare a few pills to save your husband."

She swears she hasn't moved even the smallest muscle…can't, in fact… but her face betrays her nonetheless. Leoben gives her a look that's clearly pitying. "Oh, Kara," he takes a step forward, then another. "When will you learn that Lee will always disappoint you? When will you realize that he can never really give you what you need?"

"And you frakking think you can?" she sneers.

He laughs smugly. "Why, yes, Kara. Of course, I can."

Kara's gorge rises and she swallows convulsively. "You. And. I. Will. Never…" She grits out before Leoben interrupts her.

"Oh, we will. Not yet. I know you aren't ready." He smiles indulgently. "Meanwhile, I can offer a choice of two things that we both know you want: killing me or saving your husband."

Again, she must have unwittingly made some micro-expression that tells Leoben he's hit the right nerve because he moves closer. "If I just say the word, Simon can administer IV antibiotics. Sam will recover." He pauses. "If I say nothing, Sam will ever so slowly drown in the fluid building up his lungs. It's that simple."

Kara's gut twists as Leoben closes the final distance between them so that the rifle is pressed against his chest. "What will it be, Kara? Come with me and I will give the order to treat Sam. Pull the trigger, Kara and I won't be able to say anything at all. At least until I download. Doesn't take long really, but maybe just too long for poor Sam."

She is shaking with rage now.

"Pull the trigger." Leoben coaxes. He brings up his hand so that his finger rests lightly on her own. It's almost a caress and she shudders at the contact with his simulated flesh.

Kara looks just past him at the tent where her husband lies helpless. _Frak!_ She made Sam swear back on Caprica that they'd never leave each other alive in the hands of that twisted frakker Simon and his breeding program. Of all the promises between them, this was the one that she can least bear to break. She blinks back tears.

Meanwhile, Leoben was still talking. "Which is stronger, Kara: Your hatred of me or your love for Sam?"

_The frakking truth is I'm not sure anymore._

"Because the day will come when you feel very differently."

_That's right, frakker, keep talking._ Her eyes flick toward the pistol. The indicator shows one bullet is chambered. How many rounds left? she wonders. If there are three, she knows she is fast enough. _Shoot Leoben, then Sam, and then myself_. Even two will be enough. She will just have to take whatever the resurrected Leoben does to her.

But what if there's only one round left?

_Face it, Starbuck, Sam's took sick to move. Even if you could somehow get him out of the encampment, into the woods, he'd never survive a night out in the open._

Kara takes a deep breath.

Lowers the weapon.

Leoben smiles.

_You can do this_, Kara thinks. "One condition."

His smirk wavers a bit. He's wary. _Wise to be_, she thinks.

"Get Simon away from Sam, okay? Find some other Four to treat him."

Leoben visibly relaxes. "Sure." He laughs. "You're a lousy haggler, Kara. I thought you'd hold out for something bigger. More worthy."

"No, I mean it. Not Simon. Anyone else, okay? But not Simon. You swear it!"

He sighs. "I swear it, Kara."

She's aware that she's babbling, but she doesn't care because the message is too important. "Keep Simon away from Sam! Keep him away from Sam. Oh, Gods, just keep him away!"

"Of course. Kara." Leoben reaches down and takes the pistol from her unresisting hand. She hardly notices because the only important thing now is that the frakking Cylon gets it through his frakking head. "Not Simon! Not Simon!"

"I understand, Kara. Anyone but Simon. I swear."

"Can't trust you." She screams. Leoben takes her by the shoulders and shakes her a bit. "Please calm down. You're hyperventilating."

She was. Her vision was darkening, but she couldn't stop. "No! Simon! No! Simon!"

A Four approaches them, med kit in hand. On some level, Kara knows it wasn't Simon, but she's in full panic mode now. She slams her head into Leoben's and snatches the pistol from him. This time she has no trouble firing.

The Four falls to the ground, half his head gone. Kara drops the gun and managed to take a few staggering steps toward the tent before she felt the sting in her arm.

"Sorry, Kara." Leoben says gently as he withdraw the needle. "It's for your own good."

"No…Simon…" she pleads. The words are the last on Kara's tongue when her world goes black and the first she utters when she wakes later in the dark.

"Shh! Shh!"

"Sorry, Sam," She lays back down and rolls closer, snuggling into his open arms. "I had the worst nightmare…"

"Kara…"

_Leoben_. It all comes back in one terrible frakking rush.

She attacks him. He lets her, thinking his passivity will eventually calm her if she doesn't exhaust herself first.

In Kara's fury, terror, and grief everything in the room becomes a weapon. Tomorrow, Leoben will be wiser. Figure out that anything heavy needs to be nailed down, anything sharp, dulled or locked away. But tonight, he's both unprepared and unwilling to believe how far she'll go.

And so, she kills him.


End file.
